U.S. Department of Agriculture

Environmental groups say it's a threat to National Forest lands.

The administration also wants to dramatically increase logging on national forests.

Several environmental groups have joined in a lawsuit alleging that federal agencies are wrongfully killing predators on public lands to protect livestock across the Mountain West.

Aubrey Bettencourt will likely be nominated to run the Bureau of Reclamation, the top federal agency on the Colorado River, at a tense time for negotiations about sharing the water supply.

The move is part of a “sweeping restructuring," which the agency said is intended to move leaders closer to the land they oversee. The plan has been met with concern.

Wyomingites won’t be able to use SNAP benefits to buy sweetened carbonated beverages starting next February. Candy will get phased out in Feb. 2028.

Gov. Mark Gordon’s office submitted a waiver last month to the federal government for approval to ban people from using SNAP benefits to purchase soda and candy. That’s as a bill to try and create more restrictions on spices and other ingredients failed to gain momentum during the first week of the budget session in Cheyenne.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) has formally announced the establishment of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS), a development that came the same week that the U.S. Congress declined to fund it.

The advocacy group Friends of the Earth says in fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $4.8 billion on food for school meals, food banks and tribal communities. Almost half of that went to just 25 companies.

Roughly 28,000 Wyomingites receive SNAP benefits each month, with an average payment of about $185 per person.